Does anyone know where to find a really big round drawplate-- like
starting around 23-25mm? It does not need to be top quality, bit
it cannot be real expensive.

I’m assuming that you’re not planning on pulling down 1" metal wire
of any kind so does the plate have to be metal? If not, I’d buy a
good set of spade bits at the local hardware store, a piece of rock
hard maple scrap in the appropriate size, find a friend with a drill
press, and bore my own.

You can make a nice graduated forming block the same way by drilling
a series of graduated holes along a center line and cutting it in
half.

Does anyone know where to find a really big round drawplate-- like
starting around 23-25mm? It does not need to be top quality, bit
it cannot be real expensive.

Whoa Noel!! That’s some drawplate! I’ve never heard of such a thing -
I doubt there is such a thing. That scale is industrial, and they’re
probably using more like swage blocks - two halves that can be
squeezed together. You realize you’re not going to get anything but
light tubing through it without power, don’t you?

Hello Noel, I made a plate like that from a sheet of quarter inch
aluminum. I drilled holes with bits from 9/16" up to 1 1/16". I
needed a piece of 9/16" round tubing for 1- 18k piece of a walking
cane. Taper the back of the holes just a bit with a large bur. It
sounds like a lot of trouble, but really, it didn’t take too long.

This may sound real silly but I needed one very urgently one late
evening. As I was rumaging through the garage I found a nice old
plank of hardwood. It had a couple of holes drilled into it and this
is why I picked it up thinking these holes just might do the trick. I
was making a large diameter chenier. The reset is history. I used a
series of drill bits to graduate the hole sizes and used a stone cone
shaped burr to taper the holes at one end. It was a very old bit of
timber that smoked alot when drilling but that was over 12 years ago
and I used it again last week. Ha Ha dont discount home made stuff
M8.

If no big drawplates come forth from Orchidland then consider having
one made at a an engineering shop. It seems simple enough: big
drilling machine, drill holes, ream with a tapered reamer. Make a
sketch type engineering drawing of what you need and see what they
quote.

Whoa Noel!! That's some drawplate! I've never heard of such a thing
- I doubt there is such a thing. [snip]You realize you're not going
to get anything but light tubing through it without power, don't
you?

I didn’t mean to cause all this consternation-- sorry! (I got a
variety of eamails like this last night.)

I guess I should have said-- I’m drawing down tubular crochet chain!
It takes very little force, so, OK, I’ll make a wood one.

I love reading all the answers you are getting. I could only imagine
you were going to draw the hand made woven/crochet chain. I went to
the Lumber yard, the salesperson sold me a 12 by 8 inch, 3/4 inch
hard Red Oak section of board. I drilled graduated size holes in it.
It is in the vise which is mounted on a waist high prepared stump.
The wood won’t scratch the metal. Putting a little bar soap or bur
life on each opening aids in pulling.

Can anyone tell me if there are any "Low Tech" ways of mass
producing and cutting of jump rings?

Neels, I tell my students that the “sleazy” way of doing this is to
make the coil, take it off the chopstick they coiled the wire
around, then, using the tip of my Wiss [not the Chinese look-like]
aviation snips, insert the tip into one end of the coil and just cut
your way down the coil. The wire ends are not smooth, but it is
quick.